Some of the technical jargon is obscure to me but it appears that commercial production of seed is effected by cutting the whole stem with the seed pods while the stem is still green. Then the plant is dried and removal of the seed is not too difficult.

Apparently the best results are then obtained by planting the seed sometime after September.

I ended up using the end of a pencil eraser to gently press the seed pods onto paper. Most of the flat seeds could be squeezed out by working the eraser without damaging the seeds. The seeds are so flat and cleaning the chaff was still a bit difficult, so my friends ended up with some chaff with the seeds.

I did my first test last week cutting when the seedpods had turned grayish brown but the stems were green. After only one week the seeds are beginning to fall from the seedpods.

Now I am going to research how to do a germination test. I don't know if the flax seed need any scarification or not.

Chopping off the plant while the stems are green and drying for a couple of months I find that not all the seed have fallen from the seedpods on their own but it is now easy to break up the seedpods by rolling a flower pot over them on a table.

The germination test was good. I did not actually count how may seeds I used or what percentage germinated but it was good enough for armature gardening needs.